A record 260 pairs of temporary trains will be launched on China's railways for the peak travel season, according to the Ministry of Railways Tuesday.

Hu Yadong, vice minister of railways, said at a press conference on national transportation for the lunar new year that there will be 646 pairs of direct trains altogether. This is 76 pairs more than that for last year's festival.

The peak travel season, which started Tuesday, will end March 5. During the 40 days, the ministry predicted that a total of 145 million people will take train, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, among which direct passengers accounting for 59.5 million, up by 10 percent.

The railways transport currently averages 2.74 million passengers a day, Hu said. This is about 890,000 less than the figure of days on the eve of the spring festival and 1.76 million less than that of the peak days.

The ministry predicted that the passenger flow will get its before-festival peak of 3.6 million from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6, 80,000 passengers more than the same period last year. The first after- festival peak is expected to be seen from Feb. 15 to 17 and second rush from Feb. 25 to Feb. 28, both 100,000 more than that of last year.

Students and migrants workers started their journey's home a month before the new year's day so there were less passengers during the peak days before the festival.

After the festival, the traffic volume of migrant workers, travelers and short-distance passengers will also increase for the reason that most other people have to go to work before the eighth or sixteenth day of the lunar new year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2005)